The Anaheim Convention Center tower, a 18.28 m (60 ft) structure lit in an array of colors, welcomes visitors to the area. The tower stands at the entrance of the Convention Center's Grand Plaza, adding to the visual and sensory experience created by the 15,607 m
2 (168,000 sq ft) walkway that mimics the Santa Ana River.
The design team at StudioK1, the lighting designers for the Grand Plaza, needed luminaires that would illuminate the tower and match the rest of the plaza installation. They were looking for luminaires that could be programmed to slowly fade from one color to the next, adding visual interest to the plaza without distracting visitors driving around the tower.
Seven Color Kinetics ColorReach Powercore gen2 luminaires (now specified with
ReachElite) were mounted at the base of the metal tower to uplight it from the inside. The Reach luminaires' split design enabled designers to focus the top lens higher on the tower and the bottom lens lower to create a uniform color distribution filling the interior of the tower.
"To be able to illuminate the tower feature properly, we needed a fixture with quite a bit of punch and flexibility," said lighting designer Kaitlin LeSage Crawford.
The colors can also be changed to match current events, whether it is pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month or red for the Anaheim Angels.
The entire Grand Plaza project, which uses just 0.1 watts of light per square foot (0.09 m
2), was part of a larger LEED certification effort.
StudioK1 selected Color Kinetics products for their reliability and compatibility with other systems. The design team had prior experience using Reach luminaires, and knew that they would provide an ideal LED lighting solution for their tower. "We also knew the optics were interchangeable and [the fixtures] would be compatible with the overall site DMX control system used," LeSage Crawford said.
The tower adds a central opening feature to the plaza, said LeSage Crawford. "It is the first element you see as you drive up, which adds a dynamic to the plaza. It's nice to have a feature that guides you into the plaza."
